Chesapeake Bay Found. v. United States

The court rules that it lacks jurisdiction to consider plaintiffs' challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) failure to object to state issuance of a national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit for a proposed petroleum refinery or to withdraw approval of the entire state permit program. It finds jurisdiction, however, to decide whether the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires EPA or the state water control board to prepare an environmental impact statement in conjunction with the permit. The NEPA claim presents a federal question, and the court thus has jurisdiction to decide it under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Because the right to object to state-issued permits has been committed to agency discretion, the court has no jurisdiction to hear claims that EPA's failure to object to the permit violated the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Nor can the court review EPA's approval of the state permit program since jurisdiction to review such action lies exclusively in the court of appeals under § 509 of the Act.